Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to first apologize to authoritarian Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a satirical poem and then approve the prosecution of the comedian is a shocking and chilling disgrace. Merkel, who hails from the former Communist East Germany, has never been a reliable ally to free speech but the crackdown on comedian Jan Boehmermann has shocked the West. Even with the recent rollback of free speech rights in Europe, Merkel’s actions (and the cringing response of ZDF television) has been wake up call for all civil libertarians.
Category: Media
While the level of protection afforded Saudi Arabia in Washington is hardly a secret, the level of that support was on display this month when officials pushed the Obama Administration to release long-withheld pages from the 9-11 report, as we previously discussed. Those pages reportedly implicate Saudi Arabia in the 9-11 attacks. Saudi Arabia response with an express threat to sell off hundreds of billions of dollars of assets if Congress were to pass a bill allowing the Kingdom to be held liable for the attacks. One would think that the response would be outrage at the threat. After all, the bill would only allow citizens to sue and a bipartisan group of Senators have joined to support the 9-11 families. Saudi Arabia could still defend itself (and according to its government, vindicate itself) in a court of law. Of course, the United States has a real court system as opposed to the government controlled, Sharia “courts” used in the Kingdom to mete out medieval justice.
We have another shocking case involving a passenger who was removed from a flight because his presence made other passengers nervous.
The student, Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, was merely speaking in Arabic to his uncle in Iraq and recounting an exciting speech that he attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. After his call, he was told that he was making passengers nervous by speaking in Arabic and removed from the flight.
Continue reading “Berkeley Student Removed From Plane After Speaking Arabic”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Free speech rights in Germany took another worrying turn for the worse when German Chancellor Angela Merkel personally approved an investigation of a German citizen accused of insulting Turkey’s President Recep Erdoğan, a world leader personally responsible for the erosion of free speech in this NATO member state.
The timing and enthusiasm, despite proffers to the contrary, of the German government’s persecution of satirist Jan Böhmermann for his broadcast of a poem critical of President Erdoğan coincides directly with the German Government trying to reach a re-settlement agreement with Turkey to address the refugee crisis besieging many European nations–a situation politically damaging to Merkel’s image.
We featured numerous articles relating to President Erdoğan’s attacks on newspapers, individuals, internationals, and any critics of him who are within reach of this grasp, citing a bizarre form of Lèse majesté laws as justification. Now, Merkel is demonstrating a willingness to use a rather dusty remnant of such a statute in Germany as a tool to preserve the ego of a foreign head of state, to accomplish a domestic political goal.
For his part, Mr Böhmermann risks five years incarceration for the act of reciting poetry. In several day’s time, he became a convenient scapegoat to placate a foreign leader bent on resurrecting a Neo-Ottoman-Empire, with Erdoğan as its sultan.
Continue reading “Scapegoats Of The Ottoman Empire: Merkel Sacrifices German Satirist To Placate Turkey’s Erdoğan”
There is a surprising report out of California that UC Davis contracted with consultants for at least $175,000 to”scrub the Internet of negative online postings following the November 2011 pepper-spraying of students. Equally disconcerting is that UC Davis paid to have these consultants improve the reputation of Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi (right). I consider giving state money to consultants to improve your image as Chancellor to be a shocking misuse of money that should go to educational programs and expenses.
The media is still trying to learn details about the latest arrest of a Westerner in the Middle East for the exercise of free speech. The 25-year-old woman was reportedly arrested in Abu Dhabi for insulting the United Arab Emirates. This allegedly occurred while waiting for a taxi at the Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Continue reading “Abu Dhabi Arrests U.S. Woman For “Insulting The United Arab Emirates””
This afternoon, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued its decision in Brown v. Buhman, No. 14-4117, reversing the decision striking down the cohabitation provision of the Utah polygamy law. The opinion of the panel is attached below. The panel ruled entirely on standing grounds and did not address the merits of the constitutional violations committed in the case. As lead counsel in the case, I have been going over the opinion with our team including our local counsel, Adam Alba, as well as the Brown family. We respectfully disagree with the panel on its interpretation of the governing law and we will appeal the decision.
Continue reading “TENTH CIRCUIT REVERSES SISTER WIVES DECISION”
With the Blackhawks heading into the playoffs for their eighth constitutive season, I am again in pigs heaven (though a bit nervous about starting with Duncan Keith in a roller coaster season after his thuggish conduct and well-deserved suspension). Yet, the post-regular season Blackhawks period before we play the Blues will not be without hockey action to watch. Fan John Cooke is suing the team after being crushed by a falling drunken fan at United Center on May 23rd. While widely ridiculed in Chicago, I think that the lawsuit raises some valid issues of negligence and could present an interesting case for issues like proximate cause. Judging from the complaint (which is admittedly one-sided), the “At Your Service” security contractor may be the ultimate misnomer for fans.
Continue reading “Blackhawks Sued After Loud Drunk Falls Two Rows And Crushes Another Fan”
We have been discussing the surge of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh, particularly targeting secular writers. This week we have another tragic victim: law student and secular writer Nazimuddin Samad, 26. For simply espousing secular viewpoints, Samad was hacked to death by three or four men on his way back home from classes. Samad and other victims have appeared on a list of 84 “atheist bloggers” published by Islamic extremists.
Continue reading “Sixth Secular Writer Murdered in Bangladesh”
I have previously criticized the nonprofit People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for its over-the-top commercials. While (as many here know) I am a big animal rights advocate, PETA often goes for sensational and shocking publicity that undermines the cause, in my view. One such example is the latest message from PETA to mothers that “eating chicken can make your kid’s dick small.” The video ends with, “Worried about the size of your kid’s pecker, moms-to-be? Don’t eat chicken!” Given the currently debate over the size of Donald Trump, PETA appears to be pitching the same basis for refusing to eat poultry.
There is another story of an employee fired over her exercise of free speech in her private life. The speech itself is vile and upsetting. Erica Walker is a radical activist associated with the the New Black Panthers Party and extremist Eric Sheppard Jr. Sheppard is on the run after organizing a protest at Valdosta State University Campus in Georgia where he stomped on an American flag. A gun was found in his backpack and he is wanted by the police. Walker has staged her own protests in walking on the flag. However, after she was identified, her employer, 1380 WAOK The Voice of the Community, reportedly fired her. As we have previously discussed, there is a trend where private and public employees are being disciplined or terminated for their exercise of private speech. There is no indication that Walker associated her disgraceful action with 1380 WAOK The Voice of the Community.
Saudi Arabia has produced almost weekly stories of grotesque and medieval sentencing out of its Sharia court system. The Sharia courts apply Islamic law that can be both brutal and primitive in flogging and beheading people for crimes against the faith. The latest is the sentencing of a man to death for renouncing Islam and allegedly posting a video ripping up a Koran and hitting it with his shoe. Saudi Arabia still enforces death sentences for apostasy for those denying their Islamic faith. It is crime that places the Kingdom well outside of the most basic guarantees of human rights and civil liberties.
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Sentences Man To Death For Renouncing Islam and Ripping Up Koran”
There is an interesting story that has been raging on conservative sites on the Internet but suddenly popped up on national television in a CNN interview. Conservatives are criticizing CNN host Carol Costello for abruptly ending a segment on Tuesday after a guest raised Hillary Clinton’s 1975 legal defense of an accused child rapist. I recently condemned an attack ad against Judge Jane Kelly (a widely respected former public defender) for representing a criminal defendant. The attack on Clinton is equally low grade and unfair.
Continue reading “Clinton Under Attack For Serving As Counsel In Rape Case In 1975”
We recently discussed how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has turned his suppression of critics to other countries and was demanding action from governments against his critics. At the time, I was relieved to report that Germany had held the line on free speech. My relief of premature. German ZDF public television said Monday it had deleted a poem recited by presenter Jan Böhmermann from last Thursday’s edition of “Neo Magazin Royal” after pressure from the German government. Böhmermann’s poem, containing numerous sexual innuendos, accuses Erdogan of repressing minorities, including Kurds and Christians. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Chancellor Angela Merkel in a telephone call on Sunday evening with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had agreed that Böhmermann had recited a “deliberately abusive text.” Merkel has done precisely what civil libertarians feared: feeding Erdogan’s desire to suppress speech and affirming that he can indeed silence critics abroad. In the meantime, Merkel’s call did not take Erdogan away from his signature work in suppressing any and all critics. Erdogan’s government was busy this week with the arrest of dozens of political opponents.
Continue reading “Germany Moves To Remove Anti-Erdogan Poem And Merkel Calls Turkey To Apologize”
There is a controversial measure introduced in Tennessee by State Sen. Kerry Roberts to make the Bible the official book of the state. Roberts insists that this is just a recognition of the historical importance of the book and not any elevation of the Bible over other books of faith. That is less convincing to many who view the measure as an official endorsement of, if not an entanglement with, Christianity.